Durham businesses impacted by school trip cancellations

Museums, galleries, Kids Safety Village see drop in numbers

Durham businesses impacted by school trip cancellations

Ryan Pfeiffer / Metroland

PICKERING -- Katrina Pyke, co-ordinator of museum operations with Pickering Museum Village, noticed a slight drop in the amount of students coming through the museum in December. The facility is closed for the winter and she hopes to see the kids coming through for the spring programs. Ms. Pyke is pictured in the Puteraugh School House at the village January 29. January 29, 2013.

Clarington Museum Bill 115 Impact

Jason Liebregts / Metroland

BOWMANVILLE -- Jennifer Steen, program director at the Museum and Archives of Clarington, has noticed a big impact of the cancellation of field trips in the public school board due to Bill 115. January 29, 2013

DURHAM -- Kids aren't the only ones affected by the cancellation of field trips in Durham's public schools.

Local museums and galleries have seen a drop in attendance ever since public school teachers stopped participating in extracurricular activities in early December as part of their work-to-rule campaign.

"We've definitely felt the impact," said Jacquie Severs, manager of communications and social media for The Robert McLaughlin Gallery.

The Oshawa gallery offers art-based programs for students in both elementary and high schools, allowing them to discuss fine art in person and experience hands-on learning.

Certainly the 80 per cent reduction in tours is si

"It's an opportunity for a lot of students to come to an art gallery for the first time," she said.

The gallery has seen a significant reduction in tours over the previous year's numbers.

"Certainly the 80 per cent reduction in tours is significant to us and presents challenges," Ms. Severs said.

Gerard O'Neill, Durham Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario local president, said that although field trips take place during the day, the collection of money and preparation takes up a lot of the teachers' extra time, hence the cancellation.

Extracurriculars were withdrawn, Mr. Gerrard said, due to the teachers' opposition to Bill 115, which imposed new employment contracts on them. He's noticed many people have been saying just how important extracurricular activities are for the students.

"We think the people who see it as a good thing should stand in line with us," he said.

As the strife continues, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery has focused on promoting other arts-infused learning opportunities for students.

Ms. Severs said as a result of the halt in field trips, the gallery has seen an increase in its in-school programs, where gallery staff takes programs into classrooms.

"We hope more teachers will take advantage of that if they are not able to bring students to us," she said, adding the gallery also offers school break camps and free programming on weekends.

Clarington Museums and Archives offers a range of programs to the public and schools at its Bowmanville Museum, Clarke Museum and Sarah Jane Williams Heritage Centre.

"It's a great way to get quality programming and learn about something different without having to travel to Toronto or anywhere farther," said program coordinator Jennifer Steen.

While bookings are steady, they're being made by Girl Guides, Brownies, Scouts, home schools, Montessori schools, and Catholic schools.

"(The cancellation of extracurriculars has) definitely affected us. Our board has recognized this and we've made changes in our budget to reflect it," she said.

Three per cent of the expected revenue has been lost as a result of the field trips being cancelled, she said.

A teachers' open house on Jan. 17 was empty, and there have been no bookings this season from public schools.

"We're looking to other groups and other organizations to fill that gap, and we have been getting a good response from the Catholic schools as well," she said.

The current exhibit, Ice Age Mammals, from the Canadian Museum of Nature, was booked in 2010 and has been open to the public from Jan. 14. Staff booked it after a successful turnout for the dinosaur exhibit in 2009. It will be on display at the Sarah Jane Williams Heritage Centre until April 30.

Pickering Museum Village, a living history museum that offers a wide range of programs, hasn't seen much of an impact because it closes in the winter months. But Katrina Pyke, the museum's coordinator of museum operations, did notice a reduction in students from public schools coming through in December.

"We did anticipate the drop but when we looked at our figures it wasn't as significant as we feared it might be," she said, adding the fall numbers were down by about 10 per cent.

The spring season, the most popular for the museum, runs from mid-April until the end of June, offering programming for kids in preschool to Grade 8 on site.

"We are anticipating feeling it a great deal more," she said.

She said she hopes for a resolution for the sake of businesses, teachers and the kids.

"One of our strengths in programming here at Pickering Museum Village is that we very much believe in keeping the children active and applying hands-on activities," she said.

The Durham Regional Police's Kids Safety Village, a child-sized version of a real town, features small buildings, roadways, traffic lights and road signs, as well as a classroom for safety lessons. The Whitby-based centre has also experienced an attendance drop.

Sergeant Nancy van Rooy said "there has been a noticeable decline in enrolment with Durham public students but not so with Durham Catholic and/or private school students attending."

Mr. O'Neill said the teachers' union plans to re-evaluate its current stance on extracurricular activities on March 1. The ETFO had decided to wait until the new Ontario Liberal leader was in power to see if they could come to some sort of a resolution. He said ETFO president Sam Hammond has had a "very cordial" meeting with new leader Kathleen Wynne.

Kristen Calis covers Pickering and writes a pet column for the Metroland Media Group’s Durham Region Division. Anyone with upcoming animal charity events that they would like listed in Kristen’s Kritters can e-mail kcalis@durhamregion.com.